Is it spring yet?

Hanako was silent, her ears tipped forward as she listened. Starting with the basics seemed reasonable enough, but as Azure continued it quickly became apparent that things were not going to be as simple as she'd first assumed. Now that he mentioned it, she supposed that it made sense for the Armada to be an army but the fact that the pack was formed to serve another came as a big surprise to her. She'd never encountered such a set up before and in all honesty, she didn't think that a prince should have to serve anyone, Empress or not. But if Azure wanted her to bow to Empress Deathbelle then she would, it was as simple as that.

Azure then paused and Hanako got the feeling that he was considering his next words very carefully. From her position she couldn't see the look on his face, but from the tilt of his ears she imagined that his expression was tight, thoughtful as the silence went on and on. By no means did she intend to poke or prod him into speaking but she'd be a liar if she said that she wasn't curious, almost dying to hear what he had to say. And then when he finally did speak his words weighed so heavy that her ears fell a little.

There was so much to unpack and so much to take in that Hanako lost her stride, falling behind a little as she mulled over his words. It started off simple enough, his Father was a king but didn't want to be referred as such and that her actions, good or bad, would reflect upon him. All easy, simple to understand stuff but then he made a show of pointing out the fact he had rescued her, rather than purchasing her, and it made her brows draw tight. She assumed that he was simply covering all of his bases but something about it just didn't sit right with her. Maybe it was because if she twisted the words enough it sounded as though he didn't want to purchase her, that he didn't think she was worth the investment. Hanako didn't want to think about that, nope, no thank you.

She pulled in a long steadying breath and just like that her worries were banished, he was offering her safety and comfort and surely that meant something. Or at the very least proved that she was worthy of his time and attention. Either way, she would watch her words from here on out as the last thing she wanted to do was make Azure's life difficult when he was going out of his way to make hers easier.

"Whoops!" Hanako cheeped, quick to catch up with Azure so they were walking more or less side by side. " I just..." For once she struggled to find the words. "Thank you so much for doing this for me. It really means a lot and I know you're going out of your way, but you can trust me. I've got this." Her smile was bright, confident, like pulling on a well fitted mask.